Chapter 5 My Struggle

"Has the room next door gotten a new tenant?"

Meng Lang muttered to himself as he walked inside.

The rental he lived in was located in the urban village of the old city district, generally inhabited by migrant workers, encompassing all sorts of people, with high turnover as well.

The living environment could hardly be called friendly, its only advantage being its cheapness.

"Gurgle~" Just then, a growl from his stomach made Meng Lang realize he hadn't really had a proper meal that morning.

Instinctively, he picked up a packet of "Master Tang's" instant noodles from the table.

After boiling the water and just as he was about to tear open the package, his hand suddenly froze.

[That day I drank a lot of alcohol, vomited blood, and was hospitalized; later, the doctor diagnosed me with late-stage stomach cancer...]

Late-stage stomach cancer...

Late-stage...

The words that flashed suddenly across his mind echoed like a tremor within Meng Lang.

Indeed, what had led to his miserable life was more than just investment failures.

Some traded their health for money, others money for health. My life was so miserable that I ended up with neither...

Like many college students, he had started eating irregularly in college, often skipping breakfast, frequently having spicy hot pot for lunch, and dinner at roadside stalls.

Once away from home, Meng Lang was like a wild horse off its leash, indulging in reckless freedom.

Once he started working, takeaways and instant noodles became even more of a daily routine.

However, all of this seemingly came at a cost...

Meng Lang sighed and slowly put down the instant noodles, his expression gradually turning resolute.

He decided, starting from today, to be a person who nurtures health, to personally cook and attend to the details of daily provisions including grains and vegetables.

It would be best to rent a room, with a kitchen and bathroom, facing the sea.

"Hmm... I'll look up what recipes are good for health. Right! My dad, the expert at browsing group chats, often shares this stuff.

I was too young before, seeing the title and felt no desire to click on it. Now I think about it, having an elder at home is truly like having a treasure. It's indeed wise to learn from the experience of the older generation."

Meng Lang immediately took out his phone, ready to set a long-term health-maintaining diet for himself.

Goodbye, fried chicken, beer, and barbeque! Goodbye, chips, cola, and instant noodles!

It's not that I don't love you anymore, I'm just afraid of dying.

"'Intro to Health Preservation—Teach You How to Nurture Health the Buddha Way!' This seems pretty credible.

Hmm? What?! Beer with goji berries, cola... with Codonopsis?!

This actually works?!

Wait, wait, wait, I must be opening it wrong!

'Advanced Health Preservation—The Core Secrets of High-End Health Maintenance', let's see this one.

Left hand holding Cordyceps, right hand holding cubilose and donkey-hide gelatin... as long as you have enough money, you can live to 999?!

Next! 'Ancient Methods for Health Preservation—The Eight Extraordinary Meridians Method of Cultivating Health'.

The Ren channel governs blood, the Du channel governs the vital energy, blood represents Yin, vital energy represents Yang, balancing the Ren and Du channels to maintain the balance of Yin and Yang, imbalance of Yin and Yang causes all sorts of illnesses..."

Meng Lang stood silently on the spot for a while, then silently turned off his phone.

Dad, that's being playful.

Topics like "Qimen Dunjia Health Method" and "Yin and Yang Five Elements Harmonization Method," Meng Lang felt that clicking on them would be an insult to the author.

I'm not worthy!

The path of health preservation is so profound... I should just start with the basics and take it slow.

After all, besides the basic methods, I either can't afford them or can't understand them...

Glancing at the rental, completely devoid of pots, pans, and provisions, Meng Lang sighed heavily.

Forget it, with these conditions, cooking myself isn't realistic in the short term; I'd better go out and eat something healthier, maybe vegetarian.

But... first, I need to hide my treasure!

Meng Lang took out the book from inside his coat; the next moment, he just froze.

In just that little while, the book had completely changed.

The cover, originally in black and white, was now completely black, and the title on the cover had changed from "Meng Lang's Miserable Life" to another four characters—"My Struggle"!

This...

Even with some mental preparation, when this scene actually happened right before his eyes, Meng Lang still felt as if his world view had been fundamentally challenged.

If it weren't for the fact that the book had been with him all the time, Meng Lang might even suspect it had been switched by someone else.

Is this the butterfly effect in action?

But... this pure black cover, paired with the white square serif font in the middle, oddly reminded Meng Lang of the gravestones standing silently in cemeteries...

Meng Lang shook his head, casting out these weird thoughts from his mind.

By now, I knew the original future and should have avoided the "initial cause" of the investment failure, so logically, the subsequent series of tragedies shouldn't have happened either.

Looking at the current name of this autobiography — "My Struggle"!

What a positive vocabulary? It immediately gives a vibrant and energetic feel!

This is completely a different attitude towards life from a miserable one, clearly indicating that the future me must have had a quite positive life!

The future! A bright future must be waiting for me!

Meng Lang excitedly opened the book.

[Once, my dream was to be a police officer, and later on, I achieved half of that dream, I became an uncle.

Then, my dream was to have an annual income of a million, marry a beautiful mentor, and reach the pinnacle of life, but then I just made 50,000 a year, and the beautiful mentor married someone else, and the groom wasn't me.

Thus, I realized that one should be down-to-earth, first set a small goal, join the Fortune 500!

…

I succeeded! I joined Huaxia Life and became an insurance salesman!

…

In the end, I finally understood that one must not be down-to-earth, just like what Teacher Tony said, we must make money work for us, so as not to become a slave to money.

I borrowed from all my relatives, maxed out my credit cards, even leveraged all I had to short Huaxia Energy, and then welcomed the stock market crash of '18, making my first bucket of gold in life!

However… it was also the last…

Just when I was proud of my life and ready to expand my horizons… Xiao Yu died!

Yes, that adorable, sensible Xiao Yu… died!

She was only seven years old, at an age of innocence and joy, just beginning to enjoy the most beautiful time of her life, but was cruelly murdered inside a rental apartment!

Her body was found in a nearby flower bed, reportedly having suffered inhumane abuse before her death.

When I heard this terrible news, I felt sad, angry, powerless…

Especially when I saw that pale, bloodless little face in the news, I felt like I was about to collapse.

Angels are on earth, but so are demons!

But, the real bad news was yet to come…

The day after the body was found, the police came knocking on my door.

Because after the investigation and evidence collection, all the crime evidence pointed unbelievably to… me!!

The street surveillance, fingerprints on the door, the murder weapon and bloody clothes near the body, and the hair and skin flakes left by the murderer…

Yes, all the evidence pointed to me!

There was no way to refute it!

…

As the defendant, I was brought to court, with no eyewitnesses, no alibi, and no sympathizers, public opinion was overwhelmingly against me.

Facing Xiao Yu's sister's angry stare that seemed murderous, all I could do was give a bitter smile.

Facing my parents' heart-wrenching screams, I felt as if my heart was being torn apart.

Eventually, due to the severe circumstances, I was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Unsurprisingly, I was to spend the rest of my life in prison.

…

I was not resigned!

I was not resigned to being wrongfully imprisoned like this! I was not resigned to letting the murderer get away with it!

So, I studied law in prison, trained my body, cooperated very actively with labor reform in hopes of reduction of sentence, and even secretly polished spoons.

All in hopes that one day, within my lifetime, I could walk out of here and bring the real murderer to justice!

For myself, and for revenge for Xiao Yu!

…

But reality proved, what happens in movies stays in movies, reality is far crueller than films.

Ten years later.

Due to the harsh conditions in prison and excessive labor, I vomited blood and fainted.

The diagnosis was late-stage stomach cancer…

My struggle… turned out to be in vain…]

Meng Lang stood in silence for a full ten minutes.

Then, he finally couldn't help but let out a strong curse.

"F*ck!"

What happened to the promised bright future?

This is even worse than "A Miserable Life"!